Chapter 103 - Ribbon

Alexandre had been here before. Only Lily seemed to really admire the paintings, oil portrait and strange collected items from all over the world. Alexandre was bored while walking next to Lily in the crowd of sudden art lovers. He was almost certain that only a few of them were actually interested in the chatter of Rollmop. The rest seemed as bored as he was. Nevertheless, Count de Rochou made every effort to brag about his strange art collection. Although he had something different in mind when he suggested it to Lily.

Tough luck!

He checked his phone again. Nothing. Gaston took his time. If he knew the man wasn't coming, Alexandre would never have shown his face here. In the background, he heard the astonished shouts and questions that pretended to be curious. He realized he had no other reason to stay.

Alexandre pulled on the orchid ribbon with swift fingers and watched the bow on his wife's back loosen slowly. He reached for her hand and whispered to her. "Your bow is coming off." With big eyes she looked at him in surprise.

"Oh!" Her long eyelashes jingled seductively.

"Come here..." He pulled her close, forced her to stop. "I'll fix it." Alexandre reached for the silk ribbon, waited for the grape of people to pass by before quickly tying the ribbon back into a bow.

In the distance he could still hear footsteps. "I know a more interesting place." He gave her no time to think about his proposal and wrapped his arm around her center. He liked the feeling of being so close to her. Away from attention.

"Where are we going?" He didn't miss the slight trembling in her voice. Oh, no this again, he thought. His little outburst last week had frightened her more than he thought. He needed to fix that. Seeing her cold shoulder flustered him. He ignored her question and led her on, past portraits of noblemen, lords and ladies of the de Rochou family. It was a long old corridor, dimly lit. Alexandre suspected that no guests had strayed into this part of the mansion for a long time. Here they would finally find some peace of mind. He remembered the corridors from his childhood. Nothing had really changed, the same old-fashioned brocade wallpaper still stuck to the walls, even the old carpet was still the same. The Count hadn't even let anyone change the old carpet. Although its color kept fading for ages. It was the same pale red he had walked over as a child. What a good-for-nothing the Count turned out to be. Only with a lot of luck had he inherited the title. The woman who had once owned all this couldn't claim an heir. She was never married and so the family's property was passed on to a distant relative. Count Gerard de Rochou. Alexandre's grandmother had been very upset about this at that time, because the previous countess was a good friend of grandmother Odette.

"Why don't you tell me where we are going? Are we lost?" Her voice is only in tones.

"Look at me. Do I look like someone who's lost."

"Yes. We are lost."

Alexandre opened an old creaking wooden door. "No we aren't" Then he pulled Lily behind the door. "We are here." Behind her the door falls back into the lock. It was pitch black in the room. The air was stale and heavy. As if it hadn't been aired out for months. He could feel her grip getting tighter. She trembled slightly, he stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. Then he searched for the light switch. Before the room was bathed in a glistening warm light.

"I wanted to show you something." No, actually he just needed an excuse to be alone with her. He wanted to put her in the right mood for later.

She looked around and saw rows and rows of portraits. "What is this?" She asked with wrinkled eyebrows.

He took her face in his hand and with his thumb he smoothed her brow again. A light smile played around his lips. The first real smile of the evening. Relaxed. Casual. The way he felt around her. She had this magic effect on him, made him forget everything for a moment. He felt comfortable around her. She didn't ask, she didn't demand. Just radiated this inner peace. Well, sometimes she caused trouble. But it didn't matter. "The room of shame."

"Room of shame?" The confusion was written all over her face.

"What do all the people in the portraits have in common?"

Lily tilted her head and began to examine the paintings more carefully. Slowly she walked past the paintings. All of them were men.

"A fat lip?" She continued to dig.